Tuesday, August 19, 2008

It was a foregone conclusion that Chris "Mad Dog" Russo was heading to Sirius Satellite Radio, but it it will be made official today at 10:30am at Sirius HQ on Sixth Avenue in NYC....

It appears Siriux/XM radio is ready put an end to the speculation and officially announce Chris “Mad Dog” Russo as their newest sports host.

The satellite radio provider has scheduled a press conference for tomorrow morning to announce the addition of a “major sports media personality.” A representative would not confirm that the press conference was called to announce Russo, but the inference is fairly obvious.

It was reported that Howard Stern spoke on his Sirius/XM morning that Russo could be brought on imminently. It is not yet clear if Russo will get his own channel, like Stern, or just host a sports show.

As it said in the section above, the form of the radio show is not yet known, but the deal is projected to be large and certainly long-term. It's a great hire for Sirius because Russo is cut of the Stern mold, and is yet another bombastic personality the radio network can add to its stable. For WFAN though, it's seemingly a sign of the difficult road ahead. Francesa isn't strong enough to carry the show on his own, and if you add to that the fact that the Mets and Esiason deals are up soon, you're looking at some tough choices for the AM station.

Per Radio & Records, Russo is getting his own channel called "Mad Dog Radio", to be broadcast on both Sirius and XM. The "Mad Dog Sports Show" starts September 15 and will be broadcast live from New York weekdays 2-7 pm ET.

Now that the merger has been approved, Mad Dog will have the first original show to appear on both Sirius and XM.